Neuromancer Conclusion

One of the most crucial plot developments is finally discovering the outcome of the mission set out towards the beginning of the novel. Case and Molly successfully complete their mission, which is explained in further detail in the last few chapters, but through this explanation even more questions are raised. Gibson reveals that Wintermute is only partially responsible for the crazy manipulations (like Linda Lee’s face in the stars) that Case has experienced, and that there is another big player involved in the mission. This other player shares the novel’s title of Neuromancer. This Neuromancer attempted to trap Case on an island through the temptation of Linda Lee. Wintermute could not attempt to help Case in escaping this trap because as the book constantly mentions it is only an AI, a computer, it is not human. In contrast to Wintermute, Gibson stresses how the Neuromancer plays more off emotions and the notion of immortality through this island between life and death. Case remains strong though and fights off the temptation of a carefree life with the ghost of Linda Lee. He returns to Molly, and together they complete their mission in joining Wintermute and the Neuromancer. However, the reasoning behind this joining is left hazy, along with why Case was picked off the streets to complete this merging. Another unresolved occurrence is why after everything they had been through, Molly felt that staying with Case was “taking the edge off her game.” (257) Her sudden departure is unexpected because she always said Case was the only one she trusted during their mission; so in the crazy futuristic society they live in, it would only make sense that if you finally found someone you could trust, you would stay with them. As a means of tying up his life, Case finally achieves his old dream of working in the sprawl. However, no where does it mention he is happy about how his life turned out. In fact, Case was actually hurt that no one remembered him from his life in Chiba, even if it was a pathetic life he was leading there. So maybe his life outside the sprawl was more important to him than he realized, because outside the sprawl he was free to lead a lifestyle primarily driven by human emotions as opposed to technology.

Fate Framework in Neuromancer

“This is the message. Wintermute.” He spelled it out.“From you?” Case took a step forward.“No,” Yonderboy said, “For you.” (pg 68)
This quote introduces a whole new complexity to the twisted world of cyberspace. As if this futuristic society of decks, jacking in, and societies in space was not advanced enough, Case and Molly spend days attempting to decipher what exactly Wintermute is. They finally conclude it is an artificial intelligence, but their discovery only further complicates things. Upon being asked, “Just thinking out loud…How smart’s an AI Case?”(pg 91), Case recalls that “…the real smart ones are as smart as the Turing heat is willing to let ‘em get.”(pg 91) In other words, with technology being as advanced as it has become, these artificial intelligences could be extreme and practically impossible to crack. A few pages later, Wintermute contacts Case via a series of payphones at a hotel. Upon answering the phone he hears, “Wintermute, Case. It’s time we talk.” (pg 95) This whole scenario ties in with the framework of fate and destiny. In a society with the ability to track people down to an exact location, especially someone like Case, who is constantly on the move, technology plays a prominent role in fate. It is almost as if these technologies are altering the destiny of the human race, without even giving them a fighting chance to resist this colossal alteration. Even though Wintermute is just “a simple cube of white light, [it] very simplicity suggesting extreme complexity.” (pg 112) Furthermore, the previous owner of the deck Case has been jacking into, admits that he flatlined attempting to break into an artificial intelligence, and he was known as one of the best out there. He claims that “It was the densest ice [he’d] ever seen.”( pg 111). The revealing of this fact makes the prospect of cracking into this artificial intelligence of Wintermute as a daunting, almost suicidal mission; this thought alone once again enforces the idea of technology altering fate.